Community organizations and boards
Role of faculty members in the community
Since Ernest Boyer’s landmark report in 1990, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, leaders in higher education have advocated that faculty members apply their expertise in new and creative ways in partnership with communities (Calleson, 2005). There are many reasons this engagement is desirable, and increasingly campuses have created ways to incorporate such service into the promotion and tenure process. The basic premise is that the expertise that resides on campuses will be extremely valuable for addressing the needs of the community. In addition, many faculty members have found that their involvement in the community enriches their teaching and research in countless ways.
Support for community engagement
Many campuses encourage and reward engagement of faculty in the larger community. Some offer monetary incentives, others make recognition a top priority, still others provide an array of supports for such work, including fellow designations, workshops, compilations of willing community partners, and others. New faculty members should do some investigation of the resources available, either at a campus they are considering joining, or at a campus where they are already employed. It will be critically important to ascertain the ways in which such work is rewarded on their campus as well, since time is always in short supply for new faculty members and they need to make strategic decisions about how to spend it.
Tips and Guidelines
General Guidance and Advice for Faculty Who Engage in Outside Consulting
University of Rochester
This site encourages consulting, and clarifies obligations regarding intellectual property, conflicts of interest, and terms and conditions of consulting arrangements.
Engaged Disciplines
Scholarship for the Discipline of Theatre: Association for Theatre in Higher Education White Paper
ATHE task force
This document endeavors to guide individual ATHE members as they proceed through the phases of their academic life, from graduate student through retirement
Impact of Engagement on Perceptions about a Campus
Integration of Foreign Born Faculty in Academia
Athanase Gahungu, International Journal for Leadership Preparation
This review of literature explored issues of obstacles and opportunities for foreign-born faculty to become fully integrated in academia, particularly in programs that do not traditionally attract international scholars.
Degree of Engagement
For Community Organizations
Princeton University
This site encourages faculty to become engaged with community organizations and to bring that connection into teaching and research endeavors.
Engagement and Service
Accreditation 2010, University of Michigan
As part of the reaccreditation process, a working group was asked to examine the meaning and value of the University’s engagement, service and outreach activities. This is a summary of the group’s activities and findings.
CCCC Position Statement
Conference on College Composition and Communication (November, 2009)
This statement asserts that all practice is situated within a particular context, and integrally connected to issues of identity, authority and agency. Increasingly members have sought to extend their expertise and professional commitments beyond the traditional boundaries of classrooms and campuses, in sites such as adult basic education programs, public libraries, prison schools, church-based writing workshops, etc.
Link Between Service and Tenure
Why Faculty Promotion and Tenure Matters to Community Partners
Freeman, E., Gust, S. & Aloshen, D.
Retaining and valuing community-engaged faculty is essential to securing a vision of common good and bringing the community into the academy. In this paper the challenges associated with review, promotion and tenure for community-engaged faculty is examined.
Engaged Scholarship and Review, Promotion and Tenure
Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1100 college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.
This site offers many resources, including links to numerous initiatives to support faculty members who are civically engaged.
Community-Engaged Scholarship: Is Faculty Work in Communities a True Academic Enterprise?
Calleson, D., Jordan, C. & Seifer, S. (April, 2005). Acad Med, Vol. 80, No. 4, p. 317-21.
This article examines the impact of faculty in the health sciences who are engaged in the community.
Faculty Members’ Civic Engagement
Katz, S. (November 21, 2009). Brainstorm blog, The Chronicle of Higher Education
In this blog, Katz addresses a question from a junior faculty member, “What sort of engagement should the university expect of an untenured professor?”
Examples of Community Engagement Programs
Community Engagement
Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research
This site outlines the goal of the Community Engagement Program designed to utilize expertise to improve the health of the local community.
The Center for Community Engagement
The California State University
This site outlines initiatives, resources, news and campus contacts for the twenty three campuses of the CSU with regards to community engagement.
Engaged Departments
The California State University
This website contains a collection of presentations, discussion exercises, examples and materials from workshops about engaged departments. It addresses the meaning of an engaged department, faculty roles and rewards, community partnerships, and much more.
Faculty and Community Fellows
The Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame
This site describes the background and work of current Community and Faculty Fellows who further the center's community engagement opportunities for faculty and students using their disciplinary expertise.
Resources for Engagement
Online Database Helps Community-Engaged Faculty Members Connect with Mentors and Portfolio Reviewers
Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (March, 2010)
Faculty members who seek community-engaged careers in the academy can face a number of challenges, as outlined in this article.
Academic Community Engagement Grants
Jefferson Public Citizens Program, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, University of Virginia
This is one example of the ways a campus may support and facilitate the involvement of faculty members in community engagement.
Resources for Faculty and Staff
Ginsberg Center, University of Michigan Student Affairs
This center for community service and learning provides resources for teaching innovations from University of Michigan faculty. Investigate whether your campus offers similar support for engaging with the community.
Incentives for Community Engaged Research
Engaging Academia in Community Research: Overcoming Obstacles and Providing Incentives, Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions, Florida Atlantic University (November, 2007).
This report was prepared to facilitate work with policymakers and the public in pursuit of options for managing growth while preserving natural systems, promoting a strong economy, and planning livable, equitable communities.
Search for the title in your browser to locate this Word document.
Public Service Programs
UC Berkeley
This site lists examples of programs available to faculty and students to develop relationships with community organizations.
